Entertainment

What do baseball players feel when they hit a home run?

The San Francisco Giants' Hunter Pence is greeted by teammate Pablo Sandoval after Pence hit a two-run home run off Kansas City Royals starting pitcher James Shields in the first inning in Game 1 of the 2014 World Series.

Major League Baseball athletes play it pretty cool and collected. They stroll up to home plate with a wedge of gum between their teeth. They ritually tap the bat a couple of times, sinking down to stare at the pitcher. It's a dance, methodical and focused.

That is, until the crack of his bat hurls a ball high into the air, toward the outfield bleachers, farther and farther. The batter is already rounding first, a surprised and hopeful wince on his face. He appears to be praying for a couple more feet, inches at least.

Then finally, the ball lands amid a sea of upstretched hands. Home run.

The batter's face changes — sometimes he looks down and cracks a huge smile, a silent amen. Other times, he pumps his fist into the air and yells a warrior cry, either to a roar from the crowd or chants of "booo."

It's not hard to guess what these athletes are feeling, based on their expressions, but what really goes through their heads? What changes about their brain chemistry during such a singular and celebrated event?

Hunter Pence of the San Francisco Giants reacts to hitting a two-run home run in the top of the first inning during Game 1 of the 2014 World Series against the Kansas City Royals on Tuesday, October 21, 2014 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

Image: Brad Mangin/MLB Photos via Getty Images

On Tuesday, San Francisco Giant Hunter Pence scored the first home run of the 2014 World Series. No less, it was a two-run homer in the first inning, making the score 3-0 against the Kansas City Royals. ESPN's Jayson Stark even went so far as to predict that this type of hit could alter the entire series.

Based on the excitement and back-slaps in the dugout, it's pretty clear the Giants thought so, too.

Though home runs seem like fairly individual events, professional baseball players report feeling a increased sense of team camaraderie immediately following such a hit.

"Nothing in team sports occurs in isolation and nothing happens on the field that is not shared and influenced by one's teammates," says Dr. Colleen Hacker, a sport psychology consultant to the women's U.S. national soccer team. Most players at that level tell her they would trade a poor individual performance for team success any day, rather than have a standout individual performance on such a global stage but suffer a team loss. "Even in the World Series. Maybe especially in the World Series," she says.

Still, baseball relies more on individual, confined actions compared to sports like soccer or basketball, which involve assists and complex plays involving multiple people — sometimes every few seconds.

"The thing I like about baseball is that it's one-on-one. You stand up there alone, and if you make a mistake, it's your mistake. If you hit a home run, it's your home run," Hank Aaron famously said. He held the MLB's record for career home runs for 33 years.

It stands to reason that a person who hits a home run experiences a different sensation than someone who sinks a three-pointer.

Baseball players often describe the experience of hitting critical home runs as sheer euphoria, says Dr. William Wiener, a New York City cognitive and behavioral psychologist. "'The greatest feeling the universe has to offer' is how a player once described it to me," he says. "They don't even feel their legs beneath them when they run the bases."

That feeling is what keeps players working so hard on their game, adds Wiener. He imagines the neuro-chemical activity is similar to other experiences of intense pleasure. "It's a high that keeps them coming back for more."

New York Yankees Roger Maris watches his record-breaking 61st home run leave Yankee Stadium on the last day of the season in New York, on Oct. 1, 1961. Maris broke Babe Ruth's single season total in the fourth inning as he homered off Boston Red Sox right-hander Tracy Stallard.

Image: AP Photo/File/Associated Press

When we exercise, the human brain already increases production of endorphins, pleasure-releasing neuropeptides that sometimes mimic the feeling of euphoria. But when we reach bigger goals during that exercise period, such as a home run or a deep yoga pose, our brains reward us exponentially. That's dopamine, the brain's hormone that triggers our internal reward system. It's what drives motivation, the impulse to repeat things again and again. (Sometimes motivation and addiction toe a fine line, but that's another story.)

There's no inherent problem in celebrating those rewards, says Dr. Eddie O’Connor, a certified consultant at the Association for Applied Sport Psychology. But first, it's all about focus. When an athlete steps up to the plate, it's just his bat making contact with the ball — nothing else.

After the homer? Says O'Connor, "I let him enjoy whatever he wants to do."

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